Early impressions (2)

As I mentioned, this series of posts will include diary entries I made when I first came to Japan.

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(Dec 2007)

Last week I went outside the department store building where I work, to get my usual coffee, and what did I find but a full gospel choir! There were about 80 of them, Japanese people, but singing English Christmas carols and some popular gospel tunes ('Joyful Joyful' was one, I seem to remember). They were really good! With the faster songs they even did the whole swaying, clapping gospel choir thing.

Lots of passers-by were stopping and smiling. It was very infectious.

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I got a haircut on the weekend. To get there I went along Motomachi street, near Chinatown. This street is pretty cool. It reminds me of a street in Paris or Sydney (okay, so Paris and Sydney are pretty different...)... the road is small, quiet, and one-way, and the street is lined with designer stores. Of course I didn't buy any designer goods but I had a nice cappuccino and salami pesto sandwich in a nice bakery.

The hairdresser was cool; the teacher I replaced had recommended him. I will go back to him because the service was so good, I feel like I am already 'his' customer.

When I first went into the salon, he was making endless small talk with his client. After he was done with her, he started with me - a continual stream of questions and conversation. It was fun, and I couldn't help thinking - hairdressers really are the same all over the world.

The hairdresser speaks English, but punctuated with the most 'anou's and 'sou ka's I've ever heard... a lot of Japanese people use the occasional Japanese word or phrase when they are thinking - 'etouuu' ('uhh...') is common. My manager often says 'nandarou...' (which means something like 'let me think...').

I have one really beginner student who sometimes simply says Japanese sentences instead of English ones, because she simply lacks the words. I'm pretty proud of myself - one student said he went to a casino, and she asked me a question in Japanese. I translated it 'how much money did you lose?' I could understand enough Japanese to work out what she wanted to say.

I can understand pretty well all of the train announcements now. 'mamonaku' means 'presently'. 'kakueki teesha' means 'local train'. 'Omiya-yuki' means 'bound for Omiya'. Then there's 'doa ga shimarimasu - go-chui kudasai' ('the doors are closing - take care please')

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Reading hiragana and katakana has proved more difficult than I first imagined. I had pretty well learned the hiragana when I left Australia, and a few katakana. In my first week in Kyoto I kept looking up the hiragana and katakana on signs to practise and learn the characters I didn't remember. Since then I have intermittently practised reading hiragana and katakana in my textbook, on signs, and from children's books.

Despite all this, I still haven't *mastered* them. I still have to *think*. I guess some things, you can't just learn by osmosis. You have to study them properly, until you really know them. Just because you're surrounded by Japanese characters all day, it doesn't mean you'll magically learn them all without any real effort.

The one thing I do seem to be gradually improving in without studying, is numbers - I understand them more quickly. Sometimes now, I can understand how much money someone is asking for, without looking. Haha... but not that often...

The other day I got a letter. I thought it was for the previous resident, as the label was all in Japanese. But actually it was for me (from my insurer). Seems I don't even recognise my own name any more. I've had to write my name in katakana a few times now... and write my year of birth in terms of the Emperor's reign.

Did you know that? I was pretty surprised! On official documents, you write your birthdate as the year of the Emperor's reign. For example, if you were born in 1980, you were born in the year '55'... the 55th year of the previous Emperor's rule. This year is 19 - the 19th year of the current Emperor. My train pass had 19/12/11 as the end date - meaning 11 Dec 2007... who would have thought?